The Social Science Journal 38 (2001) 323–331
Effects of aggressive driving and driver characteristics on
road rage
Richard L. Dukes*, Stephanie L. Clayton, Lessie T. Jenkins,
Thomas L. Miller, Susan E. Rodgers
Department of Sociology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway,
Colorado Springs, CO 80933-7150, USA
Abstract
To what extent is road rage triggered by aggressive driving behavior (frustration-aggression) or by
characteristics of an aggressive driver (frustration-selective aggression)? Two scenarios on aggressive
driving were presented to 144 undergraduates: impeding traffic (passive aggression) and reckless
driving (active aggression). Age, gender, and cell phone use of a fictitious aggressive driver were
manipulated in a 2 ⫻ 2 ⫻ 2 factorial design. Dependent variables were anger that was created by each
scenario, intentions to retaliate against the other driver, and intentions to report the incident to police.
Age, gender, and cell phone use had no significant effects on results. Subjects raged far more against
aggressive driving than against particular classes of aggressive drivers. Strategies for lowering road
rage are discussed. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The study of aggressive driving is not new (Williams, 1997); however, aggressive driving
only recently has received attention as a national concern. A growing trend of vigilante
driving has been termed road rage. James (1997) argued that road rage has become rampant
because today driving experiences are filled with stress, anxiety, anger, antagonism, and fear.
Research has shown that as traffic congestion increases, the potential for confrontation and
retaliation also increases (Connell & Joint, 1996; Novaco, Stokols & Milanesi, 1990; Puente
& Castaneda, 1997). With over 168 million licensed drivers on increasingly congested roads,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: ⫹1-719-262-4153; fax: ⫹1-719-262-4450.
E-mail address: [email protected] (R.L. Dukes).
0362-3319/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 6 2 - 3 3 1 9 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 1 7 - 3
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and a trend toward vigilante driving, the study of road rage has taken on great significance
(Kuminski et al. 1995, p. 293).
Aggressive driving is increasing (Altman 1997; James 1997; Joint, 1995; Vest, Cohen &
Tharp, 1997). The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reported that violent driving incidents
have increased almost seven percent per year since 1990 (Mizell, 1997). The Department of
Transportation estimated that, in 1996, two-thirds of the 41,907 reported deaths resulting
from automobile accidents could be attributed to aggressive driving (Martinez, 1997).
The significant increase in aggressive driving has sparked public concern on the issue.
Forty-percent of respondents to a survey in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia said
that aggressive driving was their greatest concern (Willis, 1997). Nationally, 64% of
Americans believed that drivers in their own area were driving much less courteously and
safely than five years ago (Willis, 1997).
Road rage can be explained by a classic frustration-aggression model (Dollard, Doob,
Miller, Mowrer & Sears, 1939). It operates on the notion that aggression can be directed at
the frustrator, or it can be displaced onto a scapegoat such as someone of lesser status. We
asked if the aggressive driver (the frustrator) were of lesser status, would road rage be
stronger?
The majority of aggressive drivers are men between the ages of 18 and 26 (American
Automobile Association, 1997; Larson, 1997; Malfetti, 1993; Puente & Castaneda, 1997). In
fact, age is the most important factor in aggressive driving incidents (Arnett, 1994; Beirness
& Simpson, 1988; Jaccard & Turrisi, 1987; Jonah, 1986; Puente & Castaneda, 1997;
Zuckerman, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1978.
Younger men are not the only drivers who are aggressive. While, Mizell (1997) estimated
that only four percent of aggressive drivers were women, a report by the American Automobile Association (1995) found that 54% of female respondents admitted that sometimes
they drove aggressively. In fact, Deffenbacher, Oetting, and Lynch (1994) found that young
men and young women exhibited equal driving anger. Women were angrier than men about
traffic obstructions and illegal driving, and men were angrier about police presence and slow
driving.
Research on ageism in the United States has shown inconsistent results. Some studies have
shown that the attitudes of younger adults toward older adults were negative (Allen, 1981;
Cornelius & Caspi, 1986; Hummert, 1990; Kite, Deaux & Miele, 1991; Kite & Johnson,
1988; Palmore, 1982; Ryan, 1992). Other studies showed that younger adults held positive
or neutral attitudes about older adults (Knox, Gekoski & Johnson, 1986; Murphy-Russell,
Die & Walker, 1986; Kite & Johnson, 1988; Kogan, 1979).
While gender and age of the aggressive driver can affect road rage, another variable
warrants consideration. During the past decade, over two million people have acquired
cellular phones, and McKnight & McKnight (1997) predicted that as cellular service
becomes more widely available, the number of users could increase to twenty million. A
large percentage of cell phones are used while people are driving, and research shows that
the use of the phones compromises safety. Redelmeier and Tibshirani (1997) found that the
chance of a collision was four times higher when the driver was using the phone (see also
Alm & Nilsson, 1995). Of particular concern are the consistent findings that drivers talking
on the phone think they have more space in front of their car than they really have, and cell
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325
phone users have slower response times (Alm & Nillson, 1995; Brown, Tickner & Simmonds, 1969; McKnight & McKnight, 1997). Recently, the authors saw a bumper sticker that
said, “Hang-up and Drive!”
2. Prejudice and discrimination
In addition to more crowded roads, James (1997) argued that the diversity of road users
has gone up; therefore, anger and retaliation created by driving may result in aggression that
is directed at the usual targets of discrimination: women, ethnic minorities, and younger/
older drivers. In fact, some research has documented incidents of bias against drivers who are
general targets for prejudice and discrimination (Bowser & Hunt, 1981; Ponterotto &
Pedersen, 1993; Wolfe & Spencer, 1996). Therefore, we predicted that anger and retaliation
would be greater for aggressive drivers who were women, older drivers, and using a cell
phone.
3. Method
3.1. Subjects
Data were collected from 144 undergraduate students at a western university of 6,000
students. Of the students, 35% were men, and 65% were women. Their mean age was 22.23
years. Since most of the subjects were younger drivers, it was predicted that older drivers
would be more likely targets of their anger.
3.2. Materials
Subjects were presented with a packet containing two vignettes. One vignette described a
vehicle as changing lanes at a high rate of speed, nearly hitting the subject’s front fender
(active-aggressive). The other vignette depicted a driver who was traveling below the speed
limit and not allowing faster traffic to pass (passive-aggressive)
3.3. Manipulated variables
In each vignette, three characteristics of the driver were represented: age (teens/60’s),
gender (his/hers), and whether or not the driver was using a cellular telephone (see Appendix). The variables were manipulated in a completely randomized 2⫻2⫻2 full factorial
design, and the order in which the vignettes were presented to the subjects also was
randomized.
3.4. Dependent measures
The dependent variables were anger specific to the driving situation, an intent to retaliate
against the other driver, the likelihood of reporting the incident to authorities, and a desire
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that the offending driver be punished. Items that measured these variables appeared immediately after each vignette. For example, after reading the scenario on a reckless lane change,
subjects were asked, “What would you do?” This item measured the amount of retaliation.
We used a scheme of twenty categories of retaliation (James, 1997). “Mentally condemning
other drivers was scored 1 point, making a visible obscene gesture at another driver was
scored 10 points, and killing someone was scored the maximum, 20 points. We added
another category to the scheme. A score of zero indicated that the subject would not retaliate
at all.
Another item asked, “How angry are you?” Seven response categories were anchored by
zero (not at all) and six (very). Two additional Likert-type items stated, “I would report the
incident to the police,” and “The other driver should be punished.” Responses were scored
on a seven-point scale anchored by “strongly disagree” and “strongly agree.”
After subjects responded to the vignettes, we asked them to answer 14 items from the
Driving Anger Scale (Deffenbacher et al., 1994) and to report their own demographic
characteristics. Our findings replicated those of Deffenbacher et al. (see above).
4. Results
Fig. 1 presents a structural equation model (SEM) of reactions to aggressive driving.
Manipulated characteristics of the other driver as female, older, or as using a cell phone did
not have an effect on any other variable in the model, so they were omitted. All measures of
association on Fig. 1 are standardized regression coefficients that are statistically significant
beyond the 0.05 level.
General driving anger was associated with specific driving anger (0.39). Reckless driving
was associated with greater specific driving anger directed toward the other driver (0.14) and
using the law to punish the other driver (0.44). Using the law to punish the other driver was
a latent variable (factor). Two variables loaded on this latent variable: having the law punish
the other driver (0.78) and an intention to report the other driver to police (0.61). To solve
the equations, the parameter for this latter variable was fixed at 1.0 (see Fig. 1). Greater
specific driving anger was associated with greater retaliation (0.46) and with greater use of
the law to punish the other driver (0.61).
The overall fit of the model to the data was very good. The Comparative Fit Index (CFI)
was 0.99. It showed a strong correspondence between a saturated model and our restricted
model. The ␹2/degrees of freedom ratio was 9.03/8 ⫽ 1.13. A ratio less than 2 indicates a
well-fitting model. The ␹2 was not significant at the 0.05 level; therefore, the covariance
matrix of the restricted model was not significantly different from the covariance matrix of
the saturated model
Additional examination of the relation between retaliation and using the law to punish the
other driver showed a zero-order correlation coefficient of 0.14 (p ⬍ .05) for the entire
sample. Furthermore, when retaliation was split at the median, the correlation between low
level retaliation and using the law was -0.17 (p ⬍ .05). For high level retaliation, the
correlation was 0.31 (p ⬍ .01). This finding suggested a u-shaped relation between retaliation and using the law to punish the other driver. This relation was tested via a quadratic
R.L. Dukes et al. / The Social Science Journal 38 (2001) 323–331
327
Fig. 1. Structural Equations Model of Reactions to Aggressive Driving
equation. The procedure consisted of computing a squared variable of intent to retaliate, and
using this variable and the original variable of intent to retaliate as independent variables in
a multiple regression analysis that predicted using the law to punish the other driver. If the
relation were u-shaped, the beta for retaliation would be negative, and the beta for intent to
retaliate (squared) would be positive (Allison, 1978). Results showed that the beta for the
retaliation variable was -0.84 (p ⬍ .01), and the beta for the squared retaliation variable was
0.94 (p ⬍ .01).
5. Discussion
Reckless driving produced more road rage than impeding traffic, and this difference was
more important in predicting the reactions of subjects than were characteristics of the other
driver, such as gender, age or cell phone use. This finding indicated that prejudice was not
the main mechanism that created specific driving anger, retaliation, or reporting the incident.
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Additionally, active aggression created more specific anger than passive-aggression, probably because reckless driving is more dangerous. A frustration-aggression model is consistent with these findings.
Analysis showed that retaliation and using the law to punish the other driver resulted from
general driving anger and anger specific to the situation. Reckless driving created greater
specific anger at the other driver, and greater commitment to use the law to report and to
punish the offender.
Additional research should examine conditions under which the same aggressive driving
evokes no direct retaliation but the victim reports the incident to police. Results of our
correlation analysis showed that using the law to punish the other driver was highest when
retaliation was either low or high. A variable of seriousness of the aggressive driving
probably interprets this relation. When seriousness is low, subjects probably consider
retaliation inappropriate. If they retaliated following only a minor incident, they would have
to admit that they were quick to anger. One course of action is for them to report the incident
to police. On middle levels of seriousness, subjects may believe that retaliation is warranted,
and because they have retaliated (and therefore bear some responsibility for the outcome),
they do not intend to use the law to punish the other driver. In high seriousness incidents, the
gravity of the situation can encourage the victim to retaliate and to use the law to punish the
other driver. In these situations, subjects said they would first punish the other driver, and
then they would report the incident to police. Apparently, these subjects were morally
indignant enough to believe that police would cite only the other driver and ignore the
retaliation.
Retaliation is partly a result of a belief that the law cannot (or will not) do anything about
fleeting transgressions such as those described in our study. Several strategies have been
fashioned to lower road rage by increasing the likelihood of catching aggressive drivers and
by increasing the sanctions. Police have added more traffic officers to the ranks, and they
have trained these officers to be alert for aggressive driving and signs of road rage.
If collective sanctions such as retaliation remain more effective than the bureaucratic
solution offered by police, road rage will continue. Additional collective sanctions have
emerged to punish aggression. The Wisconsin Road Rage Site (1998) presents a Road Rager
List in which motorists can post the license numbers of aggressive or drunk drivers. As many
as 19 incidents have been turned-in for a single car! The veracity of these data has not been
established.
A second strategy aims to lower frustration by improving the movement of vehicles along
streets and highways. Unfortunately, better roads often encourage longer commutes, greater
traffic congestion during rush hours, and greater general driving anger. Additionally, enhanced vehicle performance and safety may make drivers feel invincible regarding accident
and injury; therefore, they may be more willing to take chances behind the wheel. Under
these circumstances, road rage could increase despite efforts to curtail it.
A third strategy is public education. According to the American Automobile Association
(1997), drivers should drive well and be courteous, so they will avoid offending other drivers.
Additionally, drivers should learn to deal constructively with their own anger. This approach
recognizes the importance of dealing with both frustration and aggression, but since it is a
voluntary program, it is unclear how well this strategy will work.
R.L. Dukes et al. / The Social Science Journal 38 (2001) 323–331
329
Precursors to road rage and retaliation have existed within the culture for a long time. As
young people have realized guns are more deadly than fisticuffs (and shooting someone has
become the ultimate statement), motorists have realized that their cars are brutally effective
weapons to wreak vengeance on drivers who frustrate them. Unfortunately, many of the most
deadly exchanges have occurred when the raging drivers were carrying guns in their cars.
Acknowledgments
The authors are indebted to Paul Benoit and Virginia Meeks for assistance on this project.
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American
Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA, August 1998.
Appendix. Scenarios
You are driving northbound on Interstate 25 in the left lane going 75 mph, the speed limit.
In your rearview mirror you see a car approaching at high speed. Before you can change
lanes to get out of the way, the speeding car passes you on the right. Then the driver cuts back
into the left lane ahead of you, almost hitting your right front fender. The driver of the other
car is in [his teens/her teens/his 60s/her 60s/on a cell phone/no mention].
You are driving the speed limit of 55 mph westbound on Highway 24 between Divide and
Florissant. From behind, you approach a car traveling 40 mph. The road is curvy, and the two
lanes are separated by a continuous double-yellow line. The other car does not use either of
the first two turnouts. The other driver is in [his teens/her teens/his 60s/her 60s/on a cell
phone/no mention].
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